I see the entire Jewish People standing outside the Makom Hamikdash, knocking on the door, “Abba, let us in!”

I was your typical starry-eyed, inspired seminary girl, the type people roll their eyes at. I’d come to Yerushalayim wanting to grow, but without even understanding what the word meant. I thought I’d get a nice, solid footing in Yiddishkeit before exposing myself to the secular environment of college. But what I got instead was real growth — a changed perspective on what it even meant to be Jewish.

Torah was no longer a framework the rest of my life had to fit into; instead it became the way I wanted to live my life. Instead of “as long as it’s not assur, why not?” I was beginning to think in terms of “What does Hashem want from me?” I’d spent my year in the City of Gold, and I’d only seen the sparkle.

Walking to the Old City on Shavous night with what felt like all of Am Yisrael was an apt pinnacle to a year of magic. Just like the olei regel of old, I mused, we were all walking toward the Kosel. The Kosel! I was literally about to daven in the center of the universe.